7 of 8Jacob Lovins’ Studebaker Champion-inspired design won him the 17-to-20-year-old category.

Photo by Jacob Lovins

8 of 8Zane Exner took the 11-and-under award with this high-performance coupe design.

Photo by Zane Exner

Studebaker hasn't shown a new car design since the South Bend, Ind. automaker shuttered its last factory in 1966. But that won't stop us from imagining what the company—which built everything from horse-drawn wagons to electric cars to the stunning Avanti during its 114-year run—might have produced if it had survived to the present.

The Studebaker National Museum's annual design contest makes our wild speculation a little bit easier. Launched in conjunction with an exhibit in 2009, the contest has endured thanks to its popularity.

Andrew Beckman, the museum's archivist, reports that contest receives between 20 and 40 entries each year. While many come from local schools, some contestants are old enough to have seen brand-new Studebakers on the road. Enthusiasts from South Africa, Australia and Serbia have provided submissions.

Besides being a fun bit of speculation, the contest serves a larger purpose. “We're always looking to keep the Studebaker name relevant in the 21st century, and [the contest] is one way to accomplish that,” Beckman explained.

All contest entries are grouped by age for judging. This year, Zane Exner of South Bend claimed the 11-and-under award. Joshua Bowman of Franklin, Ind. won the 12-to-16 age group with his angular 2013 President Sedan. Cincinnati's Jacob Lovins took home the award for the 17-20 year-olds. His concept incorporates the pillbox cabin and bullet nose of the third-generation Studebaker Champion.

Stefan Stojiljkovic's futuristic reimagining of the Studebaker Commander Starliner Coupe won him the 21-and-up category.

At first, the 22-year-old industrial designer seems like an unlikely participant in a design competition featuring a long-dead American marque—after all, he hails from Petrovaradin, Serbia. But good design knows no borders.

Stojiljkovic says he has a passion for automotive design and cites designers Raymond Loewy and Virgil Exner—both of whom left their mark on Studebaker during their illustrious careers—as personal inspirations. The Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and the Exner-designed Dodge Firearrow concept stand out to him as particularly significant vehicles.

He also can't ignore the 1953 Studebaker Commander Starliner Coupe, once deemed a “work of art” by the Museum of Modern Art. It served as the basis of his winning design contest entry.

According to Sojiljkovic, “the general idea for my project was to create a car designed for the 21st century, implementing design elements from the original Studebaker model.” To accomplish this, he says that “classical elements are interpreted in a new way, so that on the one hand they appear unmistakably traditional, and on the other hand prove very up to date due to totally innovative details.”

Look past the futuristic supercar styling of Stojiljkovic's Starliner Coupe and study those details. Now glance at the 1953 original.

A wide, low grille, bisected by the car's nose-like hood—a definitive element of both vehicles—seems to have grown a bit more aggressive with time. The split-grille theme is cleverly carried over to the rear of Stojiljkovic's design. Unfortunately, fins—no matter how subtle—haven't made a comeback in his vision of the future.

Subtle V-shaped badges, which suggest the V8 tucked under the hood of both the original and concept Starliners, form the design basis of the car's clean, split-spoke wheels.

Stojiljkovic developed a set of specifications to accompany his renderings. For his concept, he envisions a front-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration powered by a 4.5-liter V8. Aerodynamic design and lightweight, carbon-fiber bodywork help the Starliner achieve a top speed of 205 mph, making it more suited to the track than its boulevard-cruiser progenitor.

While we don't know of any plans to bring Studebaker back from the grave (if you've heard differently, kindly let us know), we certainly wouldn't mind seeing Stojiljkovic develop his fantasy concept further—and we can't wait to catch his take on the future Avanti.

Graham Kozak
- Graham Kozak drove a 1951 Packard 200 sedan in high school because he wanted something that would be easy to find in a parking lot. He thinks all the things they're doing with fuel injection and seatbelts these days are pretty nifty too.
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